An alternate ending to Maximum ride
by the other ghost girl
Summary: takes place shortly after school's out forever Shortly after Itex was defeated once and for all, The flock members each went their own way and began to start their own lives. Two years later as summer begins to draw its last fevered breathes a different kind of fever begins to spread.
1. Chapter 1

**After Itex was defeated the flock went their separate ways. The battle was over after all, Most of them had either found their parents or found families to take them in, they did keep in touch of course but they didn't see each other as often, and they weren't really a flock or a family any more, and they'd become busy enough and grounded enough to not really want to wander anymore. It was sad, of course, and occasionally Max would feel a yearning deep in her soul for the days when everything was simple, and the flock was together but growing apart from friends even as close friends as they were, was a part of life and growing up. The task they'd set out to do was finished, the world was safe from Itex and the Voice was silent, and she was free to goof off and be as normal a teenager as possible with what she'd experienced and her wings of course. She was so sure of her story being over that she let herself go soft. Then one day in the final days of a dying summer, as it's fever began to break, and the chill started to taint the air and flush the trees with the colors of orange, red, and gold, Max was doing her chores, a jolt of blinding searing pain caused her to collapse, just before she blacked out the voice spoke, it said three words."HE...IS...COMING"**


	2. Chapter 2

Iggy had run away again. After his parents had won the court case that his adoptive parents had filed against them in a last desperate attempt to make him their son in the eyes of the law, he did it frequently, his parents stilltreated him like, more or less, a conversation peice than a real son, social services still refused to take his word into account after a court appointed psychologist( who was a brilliant actor as well as easily money greased palms) had declared him mentally handicapped as well as blind, so he was unfit to give any sort testimony. He usually just ran off for a couple of days, just to make them sweat a little, but this time was different. His parents had filed a restraining order against the family who had tried to adopt him after their son ( and the only best friend he had outside the flock) had said some rather nasty things about them and the petition to have him turned over to their care didn't help matters. No they had broken the last straw, and he wasn't going to come back. He could live up in the rockies or find that little canyon where the hawks lived, if push came to shove he could stay with Max and , it could be anywhere as long as it wasn't here. He started to make his way towards Arizona, even if he couldn't see he could smell and hear his way there well enough, it was as well worn a path of any in his mind. Something about the feel of the air under his wings that night made him feel uneasy, even the normally raucous crickets seemed to be trying to keep their conversations to a soft whisper like they were worried that someone, or ...something would overhear. Iggy paused for a minute before he took off, even though he'd never been superstitious something about the night made him hesitate. But only just. Unconsciously he kept his distance from a old Itex instillation he never knew exist. Luckily evil preferred to travel by the roads.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't very soon after he left that Iggy realized that going off on his own wasn't the best idea. He survived pretty well during the first few weeks by eating what he'd brought with him and using his ears and hands to navigate, then he made the mistake of landing in a city next to a busy highway to try and restock on supplies. The noise from the highway, as well as people just going about their everyday lives not only made using echoes to navigate impossible, but meant that his sensitive ears were in constant pain, he also couldn't feel his way to the city limits and fly somewhere quieter because of the fact that it was either a slum, or a farming town (based on the amount of exposed metal and broken glass) and he didn't want to risk cutting himself on anything. He even resorted to asking someone for help, but they just laughed, pushed him down, by the time he righted himself they were long gone and his cane was missing.

Now not only was he grounded but he was afraid of taking a step forward and risk falling into a ditch or walking into a roadway. Iggy hesitantly tried to use the wall of a building to steady himself as he moved along, and made it about a block before a stray cinderblock on the sidewalk caused him to trip, he tried to stop his fall but only managed to make things worse by hitting his elbow on some stray railing hard enough for him to pass out.* When he came to the sun was gone and he was tangled in something solid. Suddenly (it must have been late because the traffic noise had settled down enough that he could hear) he heard footsteps "Help, I think I'm stuck" Whoever it was didn't say anything. "Please, some thugs knocked me out and now I can't get up-" Suddenly he heard something metal clanging against a metal railing, and someone grabbed him gently by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet. "Thank you" Whoever it was didn't say anything, but he could hear a pencil rubbing on paper. the stranger put a cheap pad of paper in his hands (the kind that they leave you in hotels) Iggy was worried at first that his savior was a police officer, and that he'd just been handed a violation for disturbing the peace of something, But as Iggy felt the pad he could tell it wasn't anything official, it took him a few minutes but he managed to feel out the words _"Are you Ok?"_

Iggy nodded "I'm better now that I'm on my feet, but why didn't you just ask me that? why write it down?" the stranger yanked the pad out of his hands and he heard a sheet being ripped off of it. "Wait, that's not to say I'm not grateful. I am, it's just-" the pad was thrust back into his hands and he (getting used to reading messages by feeling them again) felt the sentence _"can't talk, mute." _ Iggy nodded. "Sorry about that, it's just that I'm blind. takes me a little longer to feel a sentence than reading one. But hey, you can see right?" Even though Iggy couldn't see he could feel the stranger glaring at him. "Sorry, I kid, the cosmic irony of the accident that made me blind left me with great hearing, a good sense of touch and an even better sense of humor. I was just wondering if you might have seen a cane anywhere? when those thugs knocked me down I must have dropped it. I can't seem to find it anywhere" Iggy heard the stranger walk around for a few minutes as well as some rustling sounds as he tried to find it. Eventually he heard him sigh and quickly scribble down a note which he handed to him. _"sorry no cane"_ Iggy groaned in irritation, then smiled suddenly. "Hey do you think you could help me to a drug store? I've got about fifty bucks in here so I can pay for my groceries, and I'll give you what's left over for your troubles." there was a slight pause as the stranger thought about it. then he heard him scribble out his response, and got the pad handed back to him. _"deal, but will you call someone or do you need help getting home?"_ Iggy smiled in what he assumed to be the stranger's general direction (which was hard without him talking) and shook his head. "no my house isn't far from here, I know the route pretty well, the only reason I need you to guide me is that it's almost impossible to walk without my cane because people keep tossing trash on the sidewalk that I can trip or cut myself on. Heck maybe this will be the thing that finally convinces my mom that having her blind son go get the groceries isn't a good idea" he lied. the stranger seemed to buy it though,and took his arm and started to guide him to the drug store

***yes this is a thing, not only has it happened to me before (mostly because I had a fast metabolism at the time and when I hit my funny bone it didn't have as much padding) if you don't believe me google it**


End file.
